Want to increase your interior designer salary? Caitlin Tinius is here to break down 8 specialized niches that’ll help you attract more clients, stand out from the competition, and better your bottom line!
Caitlin is a graduate and Student Ambassador of QC Design School. Her business, Modern Dream Designs, offer clients a wide variety of services – from design consultations, remodeling, e-design, home staging, professional organizing, and more.
What is a Niche?
As an interior designer, one of the best ways to differentiate yourself is by having a niche. A niche is a focus; a target area you serve particularly well. Your niche will allow you to know where your time is best spent, what you understand, and what you do particularly well.
When you’re a professional interior designer, having a niche is incredibly beneficial for your business. After all, specializing in something will give you a competitive edge! You’ll be able to better serve your clients by having a greater understanding of your ideal customer and target market. Moreover, having a smaller focus creates clarity for yourself. Thus, you’ll increase brand awareness for your company.
How a Niche Can Help You Boost Your Interior Designer Salary
More importantly, having a niche increases your earning potential! Firstly, there’ll be a larger client base for you to tap into and attract to your business. Secondly, your expertise in that given area will enable you to raise the rest of your service rates, due to your expert status. As a result, you can improve your bottom line because you’ve become more efficient in those areas as well. Plus, you’ll also be able to make better use of your marketing efforts.
At QC Design School, there are a variety of online certification courses offered for you to expand your knowledge, hone in on a focus, and thereby create your niche! Let’s take a look at 8 awesome examples…
Increase Your Interior Designer Salary with These 8 Niches!
1. Interior Decorating
Does your passion for interior design extend to home decor as well? Put your creative visions to use and build a successful career by adding interior decorating training to your resume! You’ll learn how to access clients’ needs in order to create custom interiors that’ll transform their house into a home.
QC Design School’s Interior Decorating Course will teach you all the technical tools needed to develop floorplans and furniture placements, along with extensive knowledge on different design and decor styles.
2. Color Consulting
Color is a fundamental aspect of design. So, why not make this one of your specialties?
In QC’s Color Consultant Course, you’ll learn all about color theory, color psychology, and how to best understand your clients’ preferences. Moreover, you’ll gain the knowledge needed to analyze lighting and undertones. You’ll also discover how to assist your clients by narrowing down the endless (and sometimes confusing) options at their disposal. Thus, you can help them select the BEST colors to transform their space!
3. Home Staging
Did you know a well-staged home can increase its value on the real estate market by 6 to 20%? There’s always been a huge market for certified home stagers, and this will only continue to be the case as the COVID pandemic comes to an end. This niche is like money in your pocket, particularly because depersonalization is hard for many homeowners. As such, your services will always be sought after.
QC Design School offers two home staging certification programs. If you’re enrolled (or plan to enroll) in the Interior Decorating Course, the Staging for Designers Course is the pick for you. If not, QC’s Home Staging Course is the one best tailored to your needs. Regardless of the course you pick, the outcome will be the same: you’ll learn how to assist clients in decluttering their homes, arranging things in an attractive way, and creating lasting first impressions for prospective buyers!
4. Professional Organizing
Clutter and disorganization cause chaos and stress. It steals our time, energy, and space. This is why SO many people turn to a professional organizer for help – and this is why professional organizing is the perfect niche to help you boost your interior designer salary!
With QC’s Professional Organizing Course, you will learn the tools needed to help clients organize and transform their space in order to better serve them, their needs, and their goals. Professional organizing is about creating optimal function, and this certification training will teach you exactly how to do that!
Want to become a professional organizer in 4 easy steps? Check out this video by fellow Student Ambassador, Bradley Schlagheck, to learn everything you need to know to get started!
5. Virtual Design
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, many interior designers have had to adapt their business models. Social distancing rules and gathering limitations made in-person services extremely difficult. In some cases, it was downright impossible.
E-design services, however, provide a way to continue running your interior design business and servicing clients – without ever needing to be in the same room! Plus, once the pandemic ends, your virtual services will allow you to book long-distance clients from anywhere in the world. One way or another, the perks of e-design services will DEFINITELY benefit your interior designer salary.
Not sure how to take your business online? QC Design School’s Virtual Design Training mini course will provide you the extra skills needed to adapt your services and offer them digitally! The best part? Since this course is only 1-unit long, you can graduate and incorporate this niche into your design career in less than a month!
6. Feng Shui Design
Ever feel like a space is just… off? The art of Feng Shui design will teach you ancient principles, in order to identify the cause of disharmony and negative energy. In QC’s Feng Shui Design Course, you’ll learn how to improve a client’s home and/or workspace to restore balance, improve mental health, and better enhance their overall life!
What are some of the key skills you can expect to gain from this certification course? Fellow Student Ambassador, Fernanda Olaya, reveals 5 of the most important lessons she learned from her Feng Shui training – and how they’ve positively impacted her career!
7. Aging in Place Design
Understandably, homeowners become attached to their homes, in addition to the comfort they provide. But as people grow older, certain adjustments might need to be made in order for their safety to remain a top priority. Instead of moving to an assisted living facility, clients will often seek the expertise of an Aging in Place designer. This way, they can remain within the home they love so much – without having to worry about their well-being.
QC Design School’s Aging in Place Course will teach you how to help these clients achieve their needs and redesign their space, thereby allowing them to keep their independence in a safe and convenient environment.
This is one of those niches that has a healthy demand. However, there are plenty of design professionals who don’t offer such a service. You can easily corner this area of the market and increase your clientele – and interior designer salary – by making Aging in Place design one of your business services!
8. Floral Design
Are you naturally creative and artistic? Put this skill to use by offering floral design as one of your business services!
The beauty of this niche is that it can be catered to nearly every other area of home design. Got a client who wants help decorating their space? Florals can be used! Perhaps your client wants to add some more color within their home, incorporate Feng Shui elements, or stage their property for an upcoming listing? Florals can be used for this, too!
QC Design School’s Floral Design Course will teach you how to work with various types of florals. With this comprehensive training, you’ll be able to add that extra level of beauty to all of your designs. Plus, you can add floral design to your existing business OR create a standalone business by offering design for weddings, events, etc.
One way or another, it’s bound to boost your interior designer salary!
Your Interior Designer Salary: Food for Thought
Keep in mind that the above list offers just a handful of things you can explore, in order to determine your niche. I urge you to think about your interests and passions! For instance, what are you naturally drawn to? Those are the things that will come more naturally to you and will allow your business to flow.
Next, ask yourself: What do I bring to the table? Do I have uniqueness or creative tendencies I can incorporate into my business? What are my competitors lacking?
Maybe there’s a need that’s not being met. So, do some market research and determine if there’s an area you can help serve!
Ready to pursue your passion? Getting professionally trained and certified boosts your credibility, gives you industry insight, and arms you with the tools needed to build a successful career. QC Design School is an excellent resource for these certifications. With cost-effective and self-paced programs, you have the flexibility to complete your education on YOUR schedule.
So, what are you waiting for? Get started and design the life you want!
This is a great resource for anyone looking to expand their skills and portfolio of services to offer their clients!
We couldn’t agree more, Daniella! 🙌 There are many ways to increase one’s interior designer salary, but honing in on a specialized niche is definitely one of the more practical (and fun) ways to go about it. Not to mention, as you touched upon, it’s a great way for a designer to expand their skill-set and strengthen their client services! Which niche listed here do YOU personally like most? 😀
All the best,
The QC Team
Great article!! Very valuable information to improve our interior design career. Thank you!
You hit the nail on the head, Fernanda! Caitlin did such a fabulous job with this article, and we DEFINITELY learned a lot from her insights! We’re glad to hear that you found this information valuable, too! <3
All the best,
The QC Team
Great read! Full of the perfect breakdowns of the industry and also the great courses at QC. Thanks for the info!
Very informative! I enjoyed reading this article; it is a great read for anyone in design!
Hi Alexa,
Thanks so much for reading and commenting! We’re so glad that you enjoyed this article and found Caitlin’s insights to be so informative. 🙂 We definitely agree – whether the reader wants to increase their interior designer salary or simply wants to learn different ways to run their business, this article is definitely a must-read! 😀
All the best,
The QC Team